Forbes ranks Liberty's Stewart and (lead) owner Wu Tsai among top ten America's Most Powerful Women in Sports

Forbes' new list of America's Most Powerful Women in Sports includes two New York Liberty connections, another sign of the team's ascension.

Its strategy was to discern categories—owners/investors, business executives, front office leaders, athletes and amplifiers—and then put them in a formula that assessed media mentions, revenue, and more, aiming to list five people per category and no more than two people from the same league in any category. 

First among Amplifiers were:

#9. Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart
Cofounders, Unrivaled; Forward, Minnesota Lynx (Collier); Forward, New York Liberty (Stewart)

On the court, Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart are among the best in the game: Collier was the runner-up in voting for the WNBA’s 2025 Most Valuable Player Award, and Stewart won the award in 2018 and 2023. Through Unrivaled, they’re changing the game altogether. Founded by the former UConn teammates in 2023, Unrivaled is a 3-on-3 league offering WNBA players an off-season alternative for competitive play and compensation without the need to go overseas. The league’s first season ran from January through March this year and attracted 11.9 million total viewers, with ticket sales that surpassed seven figures. This fall, Unrivaled raised a Series B funding round that gave the upstart league a $340 million valuation. (Full disclosure: Forbes EVP Moira Forbes invested in an early fundraising round for Unrivaled.)

The (lead) owner

Third among Owners and Investors, but the only one from the WNBA, was:

#10. Clara Wu Tsai
Co-owner, Brooklyn Nets; Owner, New York Liberty

As the principal owner of the WNBA’s most valuable franchise, the New York Liberty, Clara Wu Tsai has become a central force in women’s sports. She and her husband, Joe Tsai, who have a net worth now estimated at $13 billion, bought the team in 2019, moving its home court to the Barclays Center and investing heavily in facilities and staff. The Liberty won their first championship in 2024 and later sold a minority stake at a valuation of $450 million. Wu Tsai also serves on the WNBA’s board of governors and has said her goal is to build the league’s first $1 billion team.

I'm not sure that Wu Tsai deserves billing as the Liberty's "owner," since the family money comes from her husband, Joe Tsai, and even the Liberty's own website describes the team's Board of Governors as "Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai." But she does take the lead on Liberty matters.

Note that a Liberty press release, Breanna Stewart & Clara Wu Tsai Join Forbes’ Most Powerful Women in Sports List, states "Alongside former UConn teammate Napheesa Collier, [Stewart's] reshaping women’s basketball through Unrivaled," but doesn't quite explain that Stewart was ranked with Collier.